Red Strokes
by Flyby Stardancer
Summary: Okay, my first time uploading a RogueRemy fic! I just had to do one with them. Hope ya enjoy and please rr!Ooo! I updated finally! Warning: Old
1. Landslide

Red Strokes  
  
Chapter 1: Landslide  
  
By: Flyby Stardancer  
  
  
  
"I took my love and I took it down. I climbed a mountain and I turned around. And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills, well the landslide brought me down."-"Landslide" by the Dixie Chicks, music & lyrics written by Stevie Nicks.  
  
Rogue sighed, journal open in her lap and pen in her hand, but she could not find it in herself to write. Normally she would have been pouring herself into the little black book, so her inability to simply put the pen on the paper and let her emotions and thoughts spill onto the pages worried Kurt and Kitty. The reason for this distinct problem was simple, even if the solution was not. Her thoughts were too confused to put into words. No matter what anyone said, she felt alone. Her so-called best friends was really Mystique-her mother-in disguise. Mother... How that word tasted vile in her mouth. Mystique was no mother. What was Mystique's game anyway? Adopt her, but then leave her in the care of Irene? What kind of sense does that make? And what about Kurt? He seemed so willing to accept her as a sister, but was she ready to admit to having a brother, even if only by adoption? Rogue had no answers for these questions, and that only upset her more. She had all the questions in the world, but nothing to try to piece her life back together with. Unconsciously, she began humming. When she finally noticed that she was humming, she couldn't place the song. "Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life? Uh uh, uh uh." Finally, she recognized it. It was a song called "Landslide" by some country group. She didn't normally listen to country, but she had been flipping stations on the radio out of boredom one day, and this song came on. It had struck a cord in her, so she had listened to it. The lyrics were fairly confusing, but it carried a sense of loneliness and it seemed like the person was lost emotionally. No wonder she had began to hum it: it fit her mood. Noises began to come from the hallway. She could hear them, though they tried to keep quiet when they passed her room. It seemed like the Professor and the others had returned, and that things hadn't gone as planed. As they passed by, one stayed behind and knocked on the door. "Come in," Rogue said quietly, just loud enough for the person to hear. Gently, Jean opened the door and walked in. She had changed from her uniform to her normal khaki pants and t-shirt. "How are you feeling?" Jean pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed. Concern was practically radiating off of her, but Rogue felt the instinct to push her away well up within her. Angry at herself, Rogue pushed it back. Jean was just trying to be nice, do what she could to help. "Ah'm fine, at least as fine as Ah could be after finding out that someone Ah considered to be my best friend was really Mystique in disguise, and that Mystique adopted me when Ah was four." Kurt may refer to Mystique as his mother from time to time, but Rogue refused to do the same. "How did it go?" Jean tried (and failed) to look innocent. "What do you mean?" "Kurt told me you guys left on a mission." "Oh." Jean looked at her hands, seemingly studying her nails. "It could have gone better." Rogue saw through the act right away.  
  
"That means the world's about to be threatened, doesn't it?" Jean sighed. She hadn't wanted to reveal it to Rogue just yet, not while she was still weak physically from her powers taking over, and mentally from having to deal with Mystique's identities and betrayal. "Magneto unwittingly opened the second of three doors that prevent a power far worse than we've ever dealt with from becoming loose in the world. Apparently, he thought that we would be stopping Mesmero from opening the second door, but Mesmero tricked him into opening it instead." "Was anyone hurt?" Rogue asked. She didn't want to admit it, but she was a bit concerned. If Magneto had been there, then his lackeys probably had been there as well. She had noticed items appearing in her side of the room ever since the X-Men had moved back into the mansion. They hadn't belonged to Kitty, and neither girl knew how they got there, though Rogue did have a theory that they were placed there by a certain demon-eyed Cajun thief, but Rogue didn't have a clue why he would do it. "Only Magneto, from what I could see. And then it seemed to be only one arm pulled, and exhaustion. Colossus helped him up, and Magneto could barely stand on his own afterward, but refused helped once he was up." A silent wave of relief passed through Rogue, though Jean probably thought it was just for their fellow X-Men. She didn't know why, but Rogue knew that she'd be upset if Gambit had been hurt. The two talked a little more, Rogue being surprisingly open with the red-haired girl, then Jean decided it would be best if Rogue was left alone to sleep. After she left, Rogue grabbed her pen once more. The talk with Jean had done much to help her clear her mind, even though it had added another worry. For Rogue, the new threat kept her distracted from her own problems, which kept her from going crazy.  
  
***  
  
Remy smirked. It was his second time sneaking into a rich-man's home that night, though this time it was of his own free will. After they had gotten back to headquarters from the fiasco in the city, Magneto had gone up to his room and fell fast asleep. Homme was that tired. Piotr, St. John, and Creed had soon followed. That left Remy alone to get into mischief. He hadn't remembered seeing his belle femme (as he thought of her as) in a few days. Normally he would check up on her at least once a day though she never knew of it, but he hadn't been able to find her the past couple of days. So, he had decided to slip into her room and leave her another gift. He didn't know why he felt the way he did about her, after all she was the enemy, but he couldn't help being drawn to her. Tonight when he snuck into her room, he saw that she didn't look as peaceful and strong as she normally did. Silently, he walked over to her bedside and looked down at her. Her head was jerking slightly in her sleep, though she seemed too weak to thrash her body. In an almost tender fashion, Remy pushed her bangs out of her face with a covered knuckle (his fingers weren't covered by his gloves). After continuing to stare entranced at her for a few moments, then he placed a red rose bud with a Queen of Hearts attached to it on her bedside table then slip out of the room and off the premasis as silently as he had come. Though he had left physically, he couldn't help how his mind would return to worry over her, and hope that she would get better.  
  
Author's Note: Okay, just so you people know, I whipped this thing together in about two hours. That's fast for me. And it takes forever for me to update. Just ta let ya know, but I do plan on continueing this. ^_^ 


	2. I Can Still Feel You

Red Strokes

Chapter 2: I Feel You

By: Flyby Stardancer

_"It's that feeling that someone is standing behind me, and I turn around and there's no one there. And it's the sensation that someone just whispered. I still hear your voice, but you're not really here. Your memory is like a ghost and my heart is its host. I can still feel you, just as close as skin, every now and then. All by myself, in a crowded room, or my empty bed. "_-"I Can Still Feel You" by Collin Raye, written by K. Tribble and T. Hyler.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Ohmygosh!!"

A cry that steadily became shriller awoke the sleeper. A groan escaped Rogue as she tried to wake up. It was hard, waking up. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep and felt like she had only slept a few minutes rather than a whole night. Slowly she opened one green eye, and used it to give her roommate a sleepy glare.

"What _is_ it, Kitty?" growled the southern belle.

"Someone, like, left something on your nightstand!" Excitedly, Kitty pointed to where the rose and card were. Still moving slowly – no one but Kitty and Kurt could move that fast in the mornings – Rogue rolled over and stared. It seemed inconceivable that someone would give her any sort of gift, even one so simple as a rose.

Yet someone had.

_Now_ Rogue was awake. Quickly, she grabbed the rose and saw the card left with it. While still cradling the rose in one hand, she picked the card up, studying it.

"I'll go get a vase and some water," Kitty volunteered, taking her own personal shortcut to the kitchen. Rogue didn't notice, she was too busy looking at the card. It was the Queen of Hearts. She knew of only one person who would leave a playing card as a calling-card. Problem was, she didn't know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing.

***

Rogue's head jerked yet again. When she didn't see anything suspicious, she sighed. She kept seeing someone familiar out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, the person would be gone. It was very frustrating.

She made it to the corner, the feeling of being followed still with her, and waited for the light to change. A slightly disguested look crossed her face when Scott's red convertable zoomed by, just him and Jean.

"Bonjour, p'tite," said someone in a low voice, his breath tickling the back of her ear. Rogue jumped, berating herself for being so careless as to let someone creep so close to her. Swiftly, she spun to face him, and put a couple of feet between them in the process. Him being so close was dangerous after all, not to mention very tempting.

"What do you want, Swamp Rat?" demanded Rogue.

"Jus' the pleasure of your company, chere," replied Remy in his most pacifying voice. Unfortunately for him, it had no apparent effect on Rogue. She crossed her arms infront of her, unconciously adding another barrier between her and the demon-eyed thief.

"I doubt that, Swamp Rat."

Remy put his hands up in a gesture for peace, his eyes unreadable behnd dark sunglasses. "Even if it be true?"

"Even if it be true," said Rogue, doing her best to mock his accent. The beeping of the walk sign behind Rogue startled the two, but they quickly regained their composure. Immediately Rogue stepped back off the curb, not looking where she was going. The next thing she knew, tires were squealing and something very hard hit her side, sending her flying. A flash of pain, then all was black...

**Author's Note:** So sorry for the dely! I knew it'd take me a long time to update, but not 6 months and 14 days! And it's a relatively short chapter too... I kinda set a goal of 1000 words per chapter, but I think I'm pretty close to 400 short of that... But I just had to leave a cliff-hanger there because I'm that evil! (innocent/evil laughter) Eh... uh... Yeah. Let's see if I can write the next chapter faster, huh?

**Chapter 1 Review Responses:**

Niteflite: Well, I just whipped it out in about 2 hours. I had no time to tell you! And the paragraphs weren't my fault. It's because I had it saved as a .doc file, and I guess that's not the most reliable way to upload fics. So I'm switching back to .html formatting for the rest of the fic.

Lucky439: Well, here's your more! ^_^

Jade: Thanks. I love them too. There's so many ways their relationship can be twisted and turned.... it's fun!

RITA: See, I'm writing! Slowly, but I am writing!

Lady MR: I'm writing more Romy! It's just taking its sweet time to form in my head... Stupid Romy muses, always taking coffee breaks and never doing what I pay them to do! (Not that I have anything to pay them with... Maybe that's the problem...)

Aubs2006: (blushes) Thank you.

liltrick89: Well, like I told Nite, the paragraphs weren't my fault. I actually made it with a TON more paragraphs than how it was uploaded. And sorry I didn't update ASAP, but the Romy muses were taking too many coffee breaks and I had too much school work. And I'm not even out of high school yet! It's just not fair!

ishdandahalf: lol Here's more! And there definately does need to be more Romy fics.

klucky: Well, I think I answered part of your question with the first part of the fic!

Ironbite: Thanks IB! 

starlightz6: Thanks. The first chapter was something that was just bugging me and bouncing around my head and I had to get it down. Now the second chapter was a lot harder to find inspiration for...

                   : Yes, Romy forever! And I updated!

evolutionary spider: Thanks. Don't worry, they're not going to be enemies. I do my share of Jean bashing time to time, but I just couldn't stand doing any bashing what so ever in this fic. It's just not the right style of fanfic to have any of that sort of stuff in. Cajuns on top? I hope it's Remy! ^_~

i: Thanks!

Rogue Star: Thanks, and see! I continued!

Queondapio: Wow! I'm flattered that you kept checking up on me! Ya know, it's your review that kinda kicked my butt into gear and reminded me how long it had really been since I worked on this fic... Thanks!


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